AHad my first wedding cake disaster today! I had a 4 tiered wedding cake to deliver today. It was an 8, 10, 12 and 14 inch wedding cake. When I leveling the 14 inch cake it fell apart! I was able ice it but it was pretty Crumbly on the side. I didn't know what else to do and it was too late to bake another one. I delivered the cake 30 minutes out of town and waited till I got to the venue to stack it. When I got to the venue and took the cakes in I noticed that some of the side of the 14 inch cake and come apart! I ended up cutting the 14 inch cake and put it in the kitchen I stacked the 8, 10 and 12 inch cakes. I told the lady who was preparing the food about the 14 inch cake! She immediately called the bride right before she went down the isle to tell her about the cake! I felt absolutely horrible! There was nothing I could do. The bride gave me half as a deposit so I told her to just forget about the rest of the payment! Her guests were fed and I'm sure no one knew that there wasn't a sheet cake in the back but the bride did not get what she was expecting! I am very disappointed that I ruined a brides day!

AI'm so sorry this happened! I don't really have any advice or anything, but I'm sure every single one of us either has or will have a cake disaster. What a bummer.

Use the "firm cake" recipe.  I use it for every cake I make and never have that problem.  Learned that little trick several years ago!

AThank you for the tip! Where do I find the "firm cake" recipe? Thank you!

A

AThank you! I'm sure you are right! I just hate it that I ruined a bride's special day!

ASeriously, you didn't ruin her day. She will be disappointed but all is not lost. You did the best given the situation.

Had the groom not showed, her day would be ruined. Getting a 3 tier instead of a 4 tier isn't nearly as devastating. Hope she keeps it in perspective & behaves graciously in front of the guests.

AThank you DelicousDessers! She is the kind of person that everything has to be perfect! Her cousin, who is a friend of mine referred her to me. I was less than about half of what other bakers were charging for this cake. Still, I did my best! I take a lot of pride in my work! I guess I need to forgive myself!

A[IMG]http://cakecentral.com/content/type/61/id/2999174/width/200/height/400[/IMG]

The finished product.

I don't understand why someone would call the bride just before she walked down the aisle to tell her there was a problem with the cake.  That is just mean, instead of being excited to be walking down the aisle to marry the man she loves, she has "Oh no, cake disaster" in the back of her mind.  Bad Karma to the lady in the kitchen.

AYes my thought exactly! I felt horrible! She was able to feed her guests it just wasn't. 4 tiers!

ADid she ever say if her day was ruined, or if it really wasn't that big of deal to get 3 instead of 4?